These cookies... where do I start?! Yes, the entire first row is gone... straight out of the oven. They're that good. I promise.

I first discovered this recipe a few months ago, after I had seen something about flourless peanut butter cookies on Facebook. I was hoping to find something with just a little more than the traditional flourless peanut butter cookie, which generally consists of peanut butter, eggs, and sugar. I found this recipe on Ambitious Kitchen, which ended up being my inspiration!

My goal with these cookies was to have something that I could grab and eat with one hand, without any sort of heating or prepping beyond the initial baking. It also needed to be something lower in sugar and higher in protein, so that I wouldn't have a sugar crash shortly after eating. Additionally, I was looking for something flourless, since gluten-free flours tend to be expensive, and most have a gritty texture that I'm still trying to get used to after nearly 2 years.

These cookies taste and feel like cookies should taste and feel! Thankfully, they aren't overly sweet so no tummy ache if I eat 4 (or 5... or 10...). But they are sweet enough to satisfy any sweet-tooth, including Bear's!

Here are the changes I made to the recipe:

I use natural peanut butter, so I add a couple dashes of salt (per AK's suggestion).

I add about half a cup of chopped walnuts, 3-4 tbsp of milled flax seed, and about 1/2 cup of Enjoy Life chocolate chips. The walnuts add protein, and both the nuts and flax seed contain omega-3 fatty acids. Enjoy Life brand chocolate chips are about as food allergen-free (including gluten-free and dairy-free) as chocolate chips can get, and still taste AH-MAY-ZING. If you're not worried about the dairy, just add your favorite mini chocolate chips!

Of course, I use gluten-free rolled oats. Oats, walnuts, and flax seed are all shown to aid in milk production. I wouldn't call these lactation cookies, BUT they go well with Netflix for a breastfeeding mama, especially one who is stuck on the couch with a cluster-feeding baby.

I bake mine about 13-15 minutes. I'm not sure if the extra ingredients make this a requirement, or the altitude or type of oven or where I have the rack set. But I do like my cookies a little crispier, so that might be part of it, too.

Sometimes, you just don't have time to make them all pretty. When Bean wants to be picked up now, I line a 9x13" pan with foil (easy clean up!) and spread the dough to the best of my ability. Mostly, I just go for even thickness, since the dough doesn't quite reach the ends of the pan. When I do this, it usually takes about 18 minutes to bake. You can still make these fancy by cutting into bars when it cools. I don't stand on ceremony, though. I just break off a piece every time I walk by.

I hope you enjoy these cookies as much as I do! Make sure you get a BIG jar of peanut butter, though, because these won't last long and you'll definitely be wanting to make more!